A Message
by Tawnyblood
Summary: After a failed attempt at trying to off himself, Gilbert wakes up in the hospital only to see a very unexpected guest... who may be his guide to recovery.
1. Chapter 1

_AN: I'm back! Though I never really left, just been in a bad writing slump lately (which would explain the 13 other unfinished crap on my computer). But I'm back with a new series. Yeah... -nervous laugh- Hopefully I'll be able to finish this one, but no guarantees. God, I can never guarantee anything, that's how unsure I am. Dx_

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It was this persistent noise that just seemed to go through one ear and stay in his head—in that area right behind his eyes—and it was a really annoying beeping sound. He stirred in his bed, trying to escape that noise, and before he knew it he was up and looking around in his hospital room.

Wait, wait, wait! Hospital room?

_Oh, they found me._ "Oh God… my head is killing me." He mumbled to himself as a pale hand buries itself in his equally pale hair.

"Good. Maybe that'll teach you about overdosing."

A small '_what_' escapes his lips as he turns to look for the source of the noise. He found him, a Matthew Williams if the nametag on his shirt was anything to go by. Gilbert stares at the other man in silence before blurting out, "Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?" He looks at the clock and points at it. "Visiting hours are over."

The other shrugged, not even caring to spare a glance at the clock. "I know; I snuck in."

"You have some guts, kid."

There was a brief falter in the other's carefree demeanor, but he quickly rebuilt it. "Maybe." Matt says, voice still soft as he picks up a red flower and hands it over to the bedridden man. "The staff are used to it though. My dad's a doctor here so I stay around here a lot."

He nods, not really listening to the stranger keeping him company. And talking about company, he wonders where his younger brother is. _Probably doesn't even know I'm in the hospital._ He thinks to himself, a sardonic smirk on his face as he fingers the flower's petals.

Oh well, no use crying over spilt blood. Or whatever that saying was.

"What's your name, kid?"

He looked over just in time to see that flicker of surprise in those eyes before his visitor recomposed himself. He pointed at his nametag. "Matthew Williams. You?"

"You came in here even though you have no idea who I was?" He asked.

The blonde sheepishly shrugged, a shy smile on his face. "You looked kind of lonely." He admitted before leaning forward onto the white covers. "I thought you needed company—"

"Oh Mr. Beilschmidt, you're awake." Both occupants of the room look over the open door, both peering blankly at the star-struck nurse staring intently at the man sitting up. Her eyes flicker over to the red flower in his hands before she calls over her shoulder, "Doctor Williams, the patient in Room 121 is awake."

She turns over to him, hastily making her way over to his side and begins checking him for oddities. "When did you wake up, Gilbert?" She questions as she checks his eyes. She stops when the man shakes her off and looks at the clock.

"About ten or fifteen minutes ago." _Why does she look so worried_? He looks over to Matt in confusion (that boy seems to know what's going on) and watches in silence as his doctor displaced the blonde. Matt waves him goodbye before he disappears from sight.

Gilbert leaned back into his bed, it having been raised up when he wasn't paying attention. He watches in silence as Matt's dad goes about his business, asking the nurses questions as if Gil wasn't capable of answering them himself.

_Why doesn't he just ask me? I can answer those… questions._ He takes in a deep shuddering breath, his body relaxing as he exhales. Gil struggles to keep his eyes open, everything he's seeing through those red eyes blurry. _That's weird… the conversation… must… have…_ He blanks out and the last things he's aware of are the loud frantic beeping of his heart monitor, the red flower still in his hands, and Doctor Williams calling for a crash cart.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Wow, seven reviews (and a couple of threats xD) for one chapter. That's a record. Thanks~ Updates will be hectic with school starting. D: Yeah, ew._

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He wiped the sleep away from his eyes before looking at the clock mounted up on the wall. A small snarl was on his lips as he buries himself deeper into his sheets. _Five o'clock? Nobody's awake at this time._ He honestly thought about just going back to sleep, but when he remembered that brief moment when he almost died… well, staying awake seemed like a better idea.

_Maybe I should go get one of the nurses, one of them was pretty—oh. Who do we have here?_ Ignoring the rustling of the sheets as he moved closer to him, he propped his chin on his hand as he stared intensely at Matthew.

He was slumped over the chair in an awkward position that's sure to give him cramps when he wakes up, but… something was off. Maybe it was because Matthew just seemed a bit frailer like this, almost sickly. _Wait._ He stares harder at the blonde's chest. Gilbert's head snaps back, eyes wide. _Holy shit he's not breathing._

Now is a good time to panic, better than any other time. _Oh God, oh God, oh God! What the fuck do I do? Oh my God. __Scheiße, scheiße, scheiße, scheiße, scheiße!_

And then Matt lets out a small groan as he tries to turn over in his seat. Gilbert stops what he was doing (which was about to pull out his hair) and watches him in disbelief before his eyes rest on his chest. _It's… moving._ He visibly relaxes, sinking into his bed and his eyes slipping close. _Just my imagination. Stupid neurological problems… God I'm tired now._

One eye groggily struggles to stay open and he leans over, resting against the edge of the bed as he watches Matthew sleep. He watches the steady rising and falling of the blonde's chest with mixed emotions. He doesn't know why, but he doesn't stop his hand from slowly reaching towards the other's chest.

It hovers over his chest and Gilbert's gaze flickers up to Matt's face. _Still sleeping like a drugged man._ With careful precision, he rests his hand on the boy's chest. And jerked it back in surprise at the sudden jerk of Matthew's body. _Shit, what the hell happened?_ Red eyes watch Matt's face as the pained expression slowly leaves the boy's face and the unusual labored breathing stops.

Gilbert leaned back into his bed and decided that that was enough excitement for one day.

He fell asleep in record time.

And he woke up at the smell of something so sinfully good that he almost moaned in his sleep. Thankfully for him, his senses kicked in and woke him up before he could make a fool out of himself in front of Matthew.

Who was still sitting in the chair that Gilbert last saw him in, a plate held close to his mouth with the brown fluffy cake hanging out of his lips. The blonde hurriedly shoved that cake down into his throat. "Oh… hi Gil. You're awake."

"Can I have some?"

"Oh… um, I don't think your stomach would be able to handle it." Matthew replied, sending him a sympathetic look as he took another bite of the pancake. He made random moans and groans of pleasure as he savored his breakfast, much to Gilbert's indignation.

"That's low."

A playful smirk from the blonde and he cut off little pieces of the last pancake. He handed the plate over to Gilbert along with his fork. "Eat each piece one at a time. Any more and your gut might not be able to handle it." He advised in vain, Gilbert just swallowing the bite-size pieces in one breath.

"Wow. Thanks for listening to my advice." Matt rolled his eyes as he threw the red flower that he's been hiding at Gil. It landed right in the other's plate. Gil shot him a glare before picking up the pretty little thing, settling back into his bed.

His fingers went to stroking the petals.

"These are poppies aren't they?"

The other's head shot up at the question before he looked down at the plate. "Um, yeah. They're poppies. Why?" He asked as he folded the plate and threw it away in the nearest trash bin. He wiped his hands on his jeans as he sat back down in his usual spot, chin resting on his propped up arms. "Do you… not like them or something?"

He wasn't sure what prompted him to answer so quickly, but whatever… he didn't question it. "No! No! I like them!" He trailed off, smiling a bit at the relieved look on his companion's face. "My favorite flower is the cornflower though."

"Ah. I should have known. They're both war flowers though."

_Huh?_ "War flowers?"

Matthew laughed at the clueless look on Gilbert's face before he suddenly seemed a bit… lonely. "Yeah… poppies are used to commemorate the sacrifices of those who fought in wars in the United Kingdom, Canada, and America."

Gilbert couldn't help, but feel like he was in a trance or something as he mindlessly nods. _I wonder what happened…_ He wondered as he closely inspected that forlorn look in Matt's eyes. Something had happened to him that involved poppies apparently, but that was all he could really digress.

"And cornflowers…" Matt drew out a whistle as he leaned back into his chair, a carefree front shoving that little piece of vulnerability back. "They're a symbol for veterans in France." Matt's hand flippantly waved about in the air. "Kind of like poppies you know? War flowers."

"Hmn… interesting, but I like cornflowers because of an old story that my grandfather used to tell me." Gilbert paused to cough into his hand, a little smirk on his lips. In the deepest and grittiest voice he could muster, he said, "A story? You want to hear a story? Well, go do some work, you little slacker. Stop leeching off your brother and mother and then I'll tell you a story."

A blonde eyebrow quirked upwards as Matthew regarded the man in front of him in a different light. He scoffed. "How old are you again? Older than ten right?"

"Psh. Of course I'm not ten! You can't be this awesome after just ten years! Though I was still more awesome than the other ten year olders." Gilbert added with a wink. "I'm twenty-five kid, but that's off topic."

"Oh that's off topic? I'll show you—"

"Oh just shut up Chickadee and let me go back to my story!"

"Chickadee? When'd you start cal—"

"Okay!" He said, much louder than necessary. But whatever, it got his point across. "Okay, so as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…" He shot a comical glare over to Matthew who stuck his tongue out at him. "My grandfather used to tell me this story about when Queen Louise of Prussia was fleeing Berlin and she was pursued by Napoleon's forces. She hid her children in a field of cornflowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them from the flowers."

"Oh. I never knew—"

"Also, the blue cornflower is the color of _Prussia_'s military uniform."

"Oh that's really interes—"

"Plus the cornflower is usually used to represent the nation of _Prussia_!"

Matthew didn't really know what to say so the first thing that came to his mind, he blurted it out. "Wow… you really like Prussia don't you?"

"I don't _like_ the awesome nation of Prussia. There's a link between us! Soul mates I tell you! Soul mates!" The '_not-joking_' tone in Gilbert's voice stopped Matthew from arguing with him so both just settled with doing their own thing.

Gilbert was perfectly fine with studying the flower. Though the more he toyed around with the pretty thing, the more perplexed he became. There was so much that he didn't know about Matthew, but here it seemed like Matthew knew most things about him. _Probably got my files from his dad or something…_

"Is there a… connection between the two of us or did you just randomly decide to pay me a visit?"

"Oh uh, my brother goes to your college."

That caught Gil's attention. "Only your brother? Not you?"

His fingers tap along his chin as he mulls over the question. What would be the best way to answer that question? "Only my brother." He repeated, one of his fingers going to scratch the side of his nose. "Um, I dropped out."

"Nothing to be ashamed about." Gilbert stated, red eyes carefully watching the blonde. He lowered his gaze, a bit embarrassed at having blurted that out. The response he heard surprised him.

"I'm not ashamed!" The younger man hissed out, voice sounding rather strained. "I may have dropped out of college, but that doesn't say anything other than something outside of my doing affected me!" Gilbert looked up to see Matt glaring at him with a fierce intensity that made him wish that he were dead. God, that look was so creepy. Out of this world even.

"It doesn't mean that I'm dumber, it doesn't mean that I need your pity or your sympathi—"

"What ever you say kid, but you're being rather defen—"

"Why are you in the hospital?" He snapped, hitting a tender spot.

"Hey, that's person—"

"Why'd you try to off yourself, eh!"

"F_ucking_; shut up ki—"

"Why'd you try to take the easy way ou—"

Matthew snapped out of his rant as Gil grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. There was fear in his blue-violet eyes as Gil brought his face closer to his and Matt looked away, scared of what he could see in those red windows to the soul.

Gilbert gave him one good shake and Matt cringed. Gil began to talk, tone low and cold. "Okay… I got it kid. It was personal and I was intruding." He lets go of the boy's shirt to scratch at his neck. "It may be stupid to outsiders, but it's touchy to us. I got it…"

Both feel into silence.

Matthew was the first to break it.

"Um… sorry."

"And I'm sorry about nearly making your shit your pants." He let out a laugh at the look sent his way. _God, I miss how unique my laugh is…_ He preened to himself as he held up a hand to stop Matt from panicking about the odd noise that he just emitted. "So…tell me about your brother."

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"And oh God—the first time Alfred ever saw a girl's underwear was when he was like… seven or something!" Matthew took in a deep breath between laughs, this story suddenly a lot funnier than usual. Maybe it was because of Gil's infectious laugh? God, you can't help but laugh _at_ it if you can't laugh with it!

"They were playing follow the leader, he tripped, and grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on. Man! You should have seen him when her mother was lecturing him. He looked one straw away from breaking down!"

Both laughed, hard.

Their raucous laughter definitely didn't make most of the other patients happy, but they did garner a lot of attention from the staff. Most would stop by the room to see what was so funny, but once those two noticed them standing there they would quiet down. And once they left, those two would look at each other and then explode into a fit of laughter.

Needless to say, Gilbert quieted down when he noticed one of the nurses leaning against the doorframe, a bemused look on her face. He nudged Matthew, who somehow managed to worm his way onto the bed, next to Gil. Once Matt noticed her standing there, he slinked out of Gil's bed and back to his usual seat.

It wasn't as comfortable, but one couldn't complain.

"Are you two hungry?"

"Um…" Both chorused as they shared a glance. "Yeah. Pretty hungry."

"Good, 'cause you guys skipped lunch. I would be worried if you weren't hungry." She let out a soft laugh as she strolled into the room, hands on her hips. "So, what do you guys feel like having? We're serving leftovers from yesterday though."

"Oh… I'll have some fettuccine alfredo," Matthew faltered at that look the nurse gave him. "Um… please?"

"Much better. And you sir?"

"I'll make it easy for you, I'll have what Mattie's having." There was a pause and Gil quickly corrected his mistake with a sheepish grin. "_Please_?"

She gives him a nod before pointing at the red poppy in Gil's grip. "And would the flower like a vase with water?"

Gil looked down at the poppy, a small flush on his cheeks when he noticed that he was still fiddling around with it. "Ah, no..." He mumbled, looking the nurse right in the eye. "The flower is fine as it is. Thank you though, miss." He returned the woman's pleasant smile and watched as she disappeared from sight before turning to Matt, a question on the tip of his tongue.

"I've been wondering..." He started, picking up the flower and waving it around like a pointer stick. "Why'd you give me poppies? They're flowers for fallen soliders. So... why?"

"Well... life is like war. It's a battlefield throughout our lives." Matthew commented offhandedly, but it didn't fool Gilbert. He could tell that the kid was nervous as heck. Mostly because the blonde had a forced grin on his face and he wasn't looking him in the eyes.

"Poppies are for fallen soliders... not for those who lived. Those are cornflowers." Gilbert said slowly. "You said so yourself."

"Ah, well, th-that is correct. N-Not that you kn-know... th-that you know..."

"If life is a war and poppies are for fallen soliders..." Maybe it took a bit longer than it should have, but at least he pieced it together. "You thought I was going to die yesterday!"

Matthew didn't answer him. He only ran out of the room, narrowly missing crashing into one of the doctors. "Nurse! I'll be having my pasta to-go! _Nurse_?"

Gil watched him run out, a fond smirk on his face. He shook his head and slowly inched down into his bed, wrapping his blankets around himself. _Unusual kid._ It was the last thing he thought to himself before he fell asleep, smile still on his face.

Best he felt in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Right off the bat, my Spanish teacher wanted the class to say this city in Mexico. I couldn't spell it... let alone say it. xD It had ten syllables and started with 'para' and ended with 'cauro.' Or something like that. .-. And my World History was telling us what'll we be going over for the semester and she told us that we'll be going over French revolutions. All three or four of them. I was like, 'Oh I love you Francis.' Last update for awhile. :]_

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_Bored, bored, bored, booooredom…_ "God there's nothing to do." The still bedridden man mumbled to himself as he fiddled around with his hospital gown. The thing was big, hideous, and kind of felt funny against his skin. But hell, it was rather entertaining when his usual source of fun times was gone.

Yeah, gone.

Gilbert was starting to think that Matthew wasn't in the bathroom.

_Dammit, I'm alone._ His lips pulled into a grimace all on their own, but he couldn't really blame his body. Being _alone_ was the reason he was in the hospital in the first place. "God, I really hate being alone." He snapped as his finger finally managed to punch a hole through his gown.

"Oh, I'll keep that in mind the next time I leave then?"

Gilbert looked up in surprise, relaxing a bit when he realized that it was Matthew standing there with a dumbstruck look on his face. Then he remembered his past two hours of absolute boredom and the disappointment settled in again. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Kid, what were you doing in there? Drugs, masturbating, gang banging…?"

Matthew frowned, crossing his arms over his chest in response. "Well I'm insulted. After I went to all the trouble of getting these for you." He pulled out a prescription container and tossed it over to Gil. The man caught it with ease and looked up at Matt for explanation.

"I overheard my dad talking about how you weren't taking your medicine." Matt said as he went over to where he usually sat. "They think that you can take care of yourself now, but now they're thinking about using an IV if you don't start taking it."

"An IV?"

"Or something like that. I just remember you have to take your medicine."

"Oh." Gilbert looked down at the translucent bottle with distress in his eyes. He looked back up at Matthew, violet eyes meeting red for a brief moment. He passed the bottle over to his other hand. "I'll take it later."

"Now. Please?"

"I don't really want to…"

"Fine, if not for you… than for me?" Matthew asked, clasping his hands together.

Gilbert warily eyed him, some guilt starting to settle down into his gut. "Well I don't know—"

"For your brother tha—"

That pleasantly embarrassed expression disappeared in a heartbeat, the look on his face now unusually stony. He grimaces before tossing the container back to Matthew who fumbles with it (after it hit him square in the forehead). "No is no, kid."

"Hey… what happened between you and your brother?"

"A lot of stuff happened."

Matt scoffed. "Obviously." He watches Gilbert for a few more seconds, the man looking more depressed than upset. He quickly decided that he preferred an upset Gilbert to a depressed one. That look just doesn't suit him.

He tosses the container back, it hitting the man right above the ears. "Just open it, it'll make you a lot happier."

"Really." The surly man replies, rolling his eyes as he cups it in his hands.

The sarcasm is undetected by Matt. "Really, it'll make you happier. I swear on my mother's grave." Gilbert takes his eyes off what's in his hands and watches as the other holds up his right hand and marks an '_x_' over his heart.

For some reason, he didn't really trust that determined look on the blonde's face. _Though it makes him look a bit more manly._ He noticed as Matthew continued daring him to open it with his eyes. Gilbert simply tipped his head to the side. _Oh… he kind of looks like a girl from this angle, really pretty—Okay. That's enough thinking._

He opened it, aiming it away from his face just in case Matthew decided to go bad comedian on him and stuffed those fake snakes in there.

A small smile was on his face when he saw what was inside the container.

"You stuffed a cornflower into a prescription bottle?"

"… It's a nice surprise right?"

"Nice, but kind of creepy." Gilbert confessed as he fished the pretty blue flower out. He ignored his friend's questions of why it's creepy, choosing to focus on the flower instead. Such a pretty thing, so complicated and detailed on the outside, but once you get to the center it was so very simple. _No wonder people pair it with poppies. They match._

"You know, poppies and cornflowers look really good together. They match. Conflict, but match."

"Like the variables to an equation."

That killed it. "What?"

"Bad simile? Did it make sense? I-I'm not very good at making my own—"

"Just… just don't talk about math and you'll do fine, kid."

"O-Okay..."

They fell into their routine silence. Now, Matthew wasn't the type to go against '_routine_' but he could make an exception, just this once. He wasn't going to let Gilbert be the one to break the silence again. He didn't want the man to think that… he didn't _like_ hanging out with him or something. He really didn't want him to think that.

"So um… how do you like them?"

He wanted to slap himself for that _grand_ conversation starter.

"I like them." He motioned the younger man towards him, easily slipping the flower behind Matthew's ear. He leaned back to admire his work, a goofy smile threatening to break out. "You look like such a girl."

"Oh wow, thanks."

"It was a compliment."

"Really. _Really_?"

"Yeah, it was." Gilbert replied with a laugh. "Why, do you not trust the awesomeness that is me or something?" His right hand rose up and he placed his left hand over his heart. "I swear, that was a compliment. _Really_."

The other just shook his head in mock disbelief before gently shifting Gilbert to the side. Gil leaned against Matthew's side as the blonde sat down next to him.

"You know, I really thought you were going to ask me why I got you cornflowers this time."

"Well I already know. I'm a survivor… of _life_." He pointed into the distance for dramatic effect, but honestly… Matthew thought he looked rather funny.

"Well you're obviously alive—but not for long if you don't start taking your pills." He stifled a chuckle at the look on Gilbert's face. It was like he heard this type of conversation one time too many… and knowing him, that was probably true.

"I don't _want_ to take them though."

"Why not?"

"B-Because…" Gilbert was finding it harder and harder to protest with the way Matt was looking at him. _Freaking… don't start turning into a pansy now._

"Come on, Gil! Gilly-boy. Gil-poo. Pooh bear… snookums?"

He knew that he was just teasing him, but that didn't stop the heat from rushing to his face. "No is _no_ dammit."

"_Pleeeeaaase_?"

"No!"

"At least give me a reason all right?"

"No." _It's embarrassing._

"Come on, I might be able to help."

Dammit, he was losing this battle. His will was just draining away because of this blonde sitting next to him. Dammit. "You're going to keep bothering me if I don't tell you… aren't you?"

A little red flag went up in Matthew's mind and his playful mood disappeared into his usual worry. "I wouldn't consider it _bothering_… really." He started out hesitantly, blue-violet eyes suddenly finding his short nails very interesting. "More like uh, a playful form of worry?"

"Yeah… _suuuure_."

"Okay, so, um… are you going to tell me why you aren't going to take your medicine?"

Now it was German's turn to blush. "Uh, well…" He mentally chided himself for sounding a lot like a love-struck teenager. He passed that phase, no more awkward boners, no more awkward growth spurts, no more awkward anything really. "Don't laugh, it's embarrassing."

"I won't laugh."

"Promise?"

"Gil, you're acting like a kid."

"Nothing wrong with acting carefree—"

"Gil, now? You know, before one of us dies from cardiac arrest?"

"That's not funny! We're in a fucking _hospital_—"

"Okay, okay!" He held up a hand to stop the man's ramblings and much to his surprise, it worked. "No more hospital jokes if you tell me why you won't take the pills. I-I… I really am worried for you, Gil."

_I know._ He swallowed thickly, fingers moving to remove the cornflower from Matthew's hair. He toyed around with it in silence for a few minutes, red eyes avoiding his worried gaze. "They're for my neurological problems, right?"

He didn't wait for Matt to answer, he knew it was because part of his brain wasn't functioning as well as it originally did. _Fucking coma._ "If you're some sort of hallucination that I'm having…" His face was burning now. Ears were burning more badly though. "I don't really want to… I don't want you to… you know."

Gilbert let out a weak protest as Matthew pulled him into a hug. "I'm not going to disappear because you start taking your medicine." He mumbled, but Gilbert heard him perfectly. "The nurses saw me so that means I'm actually here… right?"

"Yeah…" He mumbled, resisting the urge to bury his face into Matthew's shoulder. This moment was already so… _wussy_, no need to bring his manly pride down any more. "But! I swear you're like a drug or something!"

_And I can't believe I just said that._

That gentle smile on Matthew's face faltered and Gilbert could have sworn he saw something like misery in his eyes as he pulled away from Matt's embrace. _Just my imagination._ He told himself as Matt smiled brightly at him again.

"You can't OD on _this_ drug!" Matthew proclaimed confidently, jabbing a finger at his own chest. His hands disappeared into his hoddie and he pulled out a second prescription bottle. He handed it over.

Gilbert gave him a weak smile as he finally surrendered (Matthew obviously was going to keep pestering him if he didn't) and swallowed the pills dry.

He wasn't sure what it was that he said, hell, he didn't even know when he said it… but he noticed that Matthew seemed a bit sluggish. More depressed, frail, and sickly. Kind of like when he first saw him sleeping.

It made him feel weak.

He would kill for some of his antidepressants right now.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Finally! They're not cooped up in that hospital room anymore! Still at hospital territory though. x)_

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_Well, this is the end of the road I guess._ Gilbert thought bitterly to himself as he continued toying around with his new hospital gown (the old one, he got his dinner on it after he and Matt got into a food fight).

He leaned back into his raised bed, red eyes roaming about the room he's been spending the last couple of days in. They stopped when they landed on the television mounted up in the corner and he wondered why he never saw that before.

How odd.

Oh yeah, it's because he never needed other means of fun because Matthew has always been visiting him. Actually, it couldn't even be considered '_visiting,_' it was like Matt was his roommate or something.

Now there was a thought he didn't mind… as long as the room wasn't the hospital room.

Canada, Matthew… Canadian Matthew.

He licked his lips, suddenly having a hankering for Canadian pancakes. Well, damn Matthew and his Canadian cuteness with all the pancakes and the flowers and just… being himself.

Actually, Gilbert couldn't hate him for it. How can he hate him for being himself, but he sure was pissed off (read: sorely disappointed) that Matthew wasn't here. _I can't believe I already miss him._ He looked around for the remote, anything to get his mind off the guy who said that he wouldn't disappear after he took his medicine.

Freakin' medicine, he knew Matthew was only a figment of his imagination.

_Dammit, I feel like smashing my head against the wall._ He felt pathetic, pining after some random hallucination. Though since Mattie-boy was a part of his imagination, couldn't it have made him… a _girl_ instead? 'Cause he definitely isn't gay.

Definitely.

He just really… _really_ likes Matt. Yeah. That's it.

He stubbornly crosses his arms over his chest and made a bet with himself. _I can have fun without Matt. Who needs him? I don't! It's fun being alone! Yeah…_ He still felt like making his head implode.

_I can have fun._ He told himself again as he went into people-watching mode. Oh, there was that pretty brunette nurse, the one with the short wavy hair. _Man, she kind of looks like Tony… No! Bad thoughts! Bad._

He looked away, the woman running up to another woman who reminded him of Francis. He dared to look at the two women again, instantly wishing he didn't when the brunette smiled. _The female Tony lookalike… God, she even smiles like him._ He tipped his head to the side, watching them in silence and just… hoping that wherever his best friends are in the world, they're okay.

He still couldn't believe he almost threw away his chance to see them again.

Gilbert sighed, red eyes trained onto them as they walked away. He didn't look away until he couldn't see them again. He took a deep breath and a young teenager caught his attention.

"_Please just follow me, I thought you wanted me 'cause I want you all to myself. I can try and suck it up, I just can't suck it up—_"

A small guttural groan escaped his lips as he sank even lower into his bed, pulling those white sheets up and over his head. "Oh come on! I just got him out of my mind! Man!" _Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it… Dammit! I lost the game…_

And so deep he was in his thoughts that he never heard the quick clumping of shoes rushing towards his bed until his sheets were wretched away from his arms. He met the startled look of a pretty blue-eyed nurse.

"_Monsieur_, are you okay?"

He saw Francis in that nurse back when he first met him… when Antonio accidently pushed him off the top of the slide and amazingly enough, all Gilbert limped away with was a badly sprained knee.

"I-I'm fine nurse. Just a bit upset."

The nurse breathed a sigh of relief, pulling away from Gilbert's personal bubble as she wipes imaginary sweat off her forehead. "Oh that's a relief, I thought I was going to have to call Doctor Williams in here." She lets out this laugh that really reminded him of an obnoxious imitation of a Frenchman laughing.

_Ha, she laughs like Francis._

"That would have been so awkward, we just broke off our affair a couple of days ago, and—"

_Okay… how do I respond to that? _"Um, that's really… interesting?" _Smooth move, Casanova._

"Oh! Sorry, hun! Am I making you uncomfortable?" She looked suspiciously coy, batting her long eyelashes in such a way that would have made something in him stir… if she didn't remind him of his best friend so much. He couldn't help but shudder in horror, but she didn't need to know that.

She leaned in closer to him, so close that he could smell the disinfectant lingering on her scrubs. He didn't move, just eyeing her warily as she traced his jaw line, a glint in her eyes that he's seen all too many times. "You know what, handsome? How 'bout you and I—Dammit!" He still didn't move as she pulled away, hiding her face in her hands.

"I'm so sorry! I forgot about that cute little blonde that you're with. I'm so sorry, _monsieur!_" Gilbert watched in silence as she dramatically staggered to the wall, clutching at her heart desperately. "Oh the woes of a maiden's heart! Anyways, your boyfriend… he's waiting for you out by the… errr… he's waiting for you by the—J-Just go outside using the side door, take a left when you see that statue and keep walking, you'll see him soon."

"He's not my boyfriend." The German corrected, but with the grin that could make the Chesire Cat cringe… well, he highly doubted that the nurse would believe him. "Wait, when have I been able to go out for fresh air?"

"This morning, handsome. Didn't the Annie tell you that?"

"Annie…"

"Hispanic, short curly brown hair? Kind of has this stupid grin on her face all the time?"

Oh, so female Antonio's name was Annie. He made a note of that to tell the guys... when he sees them again that is. God, they'll probably have a hoot about this. "Okay thanks for that…"

"Francille, but just call me Fran. Everybody does in the end."

"Okay, whatever Fran, I'll be leaving now!" He jumped off the bed, face flushing when he felt a really pleasant draft brushing past his _vital regions_. "Um, " He covered up his exposed behind, "Can I have my clothes back?"

"Nope."

"What?"

"Apparently they're afraid you'll try to make a run for it or something. Don't really know." She flippantly replied, her head snapping straight up again as if she could hide the fact that she was blatantly checking out Gilbert's ass. "So anyways, yeah. Go have fun with your _not boyfriend._ Just make sure your little buddies stay down, m'kay?"

"My little buddies—oh. _Oh_. **_Oh_**!"

She laughed heartily at him, a gloved hand swatting at his ass when he tried his best to get past her. She waved him good bye as he looked over his shoulder to shoot a glare at her. "Have fun with the cutie-patootie!"

"Yeah, sure whatever Frenchy!"

Francille smiled to herself. "Frenchy? Where'd he get _that_ from?" She pondered out loud to herself as she went back to her nurse duties. Rearranging the papers in the clipboard, she suddenly had a brilliant idea. "H-Hey! How about a threesome, _huh_!" Her voice carried through the main room, everybody stopping what they were doing until they realized that it was just '_that French girl_.'

* * *

He looked around, but he couldn't see him anywhere. He asked people who looked like they might have a clue, he looked up in trees to see if he was lingering there, and he even braved the bush maze. Granted that probably killed about two hours of search time, but it was the thought (and effort) that counted!

"Fucking, I hate this bush." He let out a small grunt as he ripped his gown after it snagged on a branch. He gave it one swift kick, going easy on it despite how many scratches it managed to land on him when he tried bursting through it. "God," He gave it another kick just for good measurement, "It probably scratched my ass."

"It probably did from the way you crashed through that thing like Godzilla."

He looked down to his left, a bright smile on his face that just screamed out utter bliss. But then he realized that it wasn't Matthew, but some kid smoking. Gilbert scowled at him before zoning in on the cigarette. "Who are you to talk, kid?"

The teenager ignored the question preferring to take a long drag out of his cigarette. Gilbert looked away as he blew, the smoke curling elegantly in the air before dispersing. He offered his cigarette to Gilbert. "You look like a smoker." He said, ignoring Gil's question.

"Wow, giving a cigarette to somebody who hypothetically has lung cancer. Awesome."

The teenage eyed him before shrugging, sticking the end between his lips again. "Not my fault they don't regulate this area."

"Well duh, this here is federal property and you can't _smoke_ in federal property. It's illegal, dumbass." _Or was it just buildings? Oh well, kid doesn't need to know that._

"I can't?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Am I talking like Aristotle or something? Is my word choice too awesome for you to comprehend? Let me make this easy for you, no… you… cannot… smoooooke."

The other slowly nodded his head in sync to Gilbert's head bobbling. He looked down to the cigarette in his hands before looking up to meet Gilbert's expecting look. "Seriously?"

His eyes slipped closed as he sent a silent prayer for the young male in front of him. _Please don't let him grow up to be a hobo. _"I give up." Gilbert sighed deeply, scratching at the small of his back as he looked around for his bearings. "You're hopeless. Make yourself useful, tell me where I am."

"… The garden? And you call me dumb."

Gilbert laughed mockingly into the kid's face. "Tell me something I don't know."

"God, stick up your ass much? What? Did your girlfriend break up with you or something?"

"What girlfriend?"

"That blonde you're always with. You know, blonde and totally hot. How'd a guy like you get a babe like that?"

His face burned as he nervously looked away, fingering rising to scratch the side of his nose. Maybe now wouldn't be such a good time to say that the cute little blonde didn't have two X chromosomes. "Yeah… that cute little blonde… know where—" He wanted to bite off his tongue at what he was about to utter, "—she is?" He internally cringed.

God, he was such a great friend to Matt. Leading some random guy into thinking that he was actually a _she_.

_Matt'll have a riot if he learns about this…_

"Last time I checked, she was going into the bathroom. Think she went back to waiting for you, she seemed real bent on talking to you when I started hitting on her."

Gilbert felt his finger twitch and he felt like punching something, something preferably short and illegally smoking at a hospital. _Don't punch him… those piercings are more likely to hurt you than the pain you cause him._ He took in a deep breath, felt better, and ready to face the challenge ahead of him.

"So what… do I bust through the maze again?"

"Instead of bursting through the maze like some sort of tractor, why don't you just follow the path? They have signs you know…"

Once again he laughed mockingly into the kid's face before sticking his tongue out childishly. "Yeah, thanks." He sighed, looking off to the side where he realized there was a worn out path leading around the building. "Anyways, you might want to get your eyes checked. The blonde isn't really a… girl." He flashed the other a peace sign before running off, struggling to not expose his butt.

The teenager watched him run off before extinguishing the dying flame of his killer. "Wait… if that blonde was a guy… doesn't that mean that he's gay?" He stared off into the distance before pulling out his pack and lighting up another cigarette.

* * *

Fifteen minutes of trying to make sense of the signs liberally thrown around the hospital ("What the fuck? Didn't I just come from there?"), he showed up next to the blonde that he's been looking for, a crazed look in his eyes.

Matthew visibly paled as Gil grabbed him by the shoulders and tugged him closer.

Matthew regarded him worry. He's seen that look too many times in those horror movies that he used to watch with his brother.

God, why did all those killers have the same look in their eyes? Why can't they be sane?

The Canadian gripped Gilbert by his shoulders, blue-violet eyes going over what remained of his gown. God, no wonder his dad wants Gilbert back on track and fast. The replacement costs for those gowns can get awful pricey.

"W-What happened to you?"

"I tried looking for you the last three hours, that's what happened."

He couldn't help it, the small little smile that suddenly blossomed. Somebody was looking for him? For three hours too? That's actually… kind of sweet, but kind of… sad all at the same time. A two-in-one combo pack! "R-Really?"

"More like one hour because I got lost in the maze."

The smile fell. "Who told you to go into the maze?"

Gilbert frowned in return, the look on Matt's face not making him happy. Not one bit. He let go of the blonde's shoulder and motioned him to sit down. He made himself comfortable, a bit difficult to do from the open gaps in his gown. _God, my ass is wet._ "A little voice inside my head. Why?"

Matt leaned his head against Gil's shoulder, taking a moment to calm his racing heart. "Your voice is dumb." He commented casually, as if he was just talking about the weather. "So, what else did it tell you?"

"Like you said, my inner conscious is dumb."

"Is it really that bad?"

"It is."

"You have to tell me now."

Gilbert shook his head, laughing all the while. He looked up at the sky, a bit of red and orange hues mixing in with the blue. Was it really that late? "No, I'm not telling you." He looked over, mentally chided himself when he was met with Matthew's attempt at the puppy-eyes. "I'm not telling you."

"Come on Gil, I'll tell you why I was waiting for you outside if you do."

Now that was an interesting tidbit of information he never thought he would want to know. "Err…" He coughed into his fist, fingers reaching to scratch the side of his nose again before Matthew swatted it away.

"What was that for?"

"You're going to scratch yourself if you keep doing that."

"That's the point. I'm scratching my nose—the side of my nose! The side of my nose!"

Matthew smiled, Gilbert able to see all of his teeth. He never noticed how one of his front teeth was bigger than the other. How cute. _Back on track, back on track._ "You tell me first and then I'll tell you okay?"

The younger man's smile grew even brighter, looking more energetic with the frantic nodding of his head. He clapped both of his hands together, his chest expanding as he took in a deep breathes to calm his nerves. This news was good, so good that he didn't want to mess it up by stuttering or something. Yeah, it was that good.

"You're being discharged in a couple of days."

That look on Gil's face made waiting for him all the more worth it.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

And then things took a turn for the odd. Gilbert actually looked worried. He scratched at his temple; red eyes looking up to the blue sky for help once again. Matthew briefly wondered if Gil was religious, but that thought skittered away when Gil looked him right in the eye and said, "I… kind of don't want to leave."

"W-What? Why not?"

"Well it was fun having people wait on me hand and feet." The German answered, no time to stop and even think about what he said. As a sheepish afterthought he included, "And something sappy about meeting great people in the hospital. I'm too awesome to voice those pansy thoughts though."

And then Matthew actually had to gall to laugh at him. But he got his revenge when he jabbed the blonde in the stomach.

"Ouch, dictatorship much, Gil?"

"Oh shut up, you know you like it."

"Yeah, 'cause I love being told what to do and how to do it."

"Master and slave. Kinky."

Matthew blinked once… and then twice before looking blankly at his companion. His lips twisted into something between a terse grin and a grimace as he looked down to the ground. "I don't know what to say when you say things like that."

"Then just change the subject."

"Okay than… do you still have a job to go to?"

Now it was Gilbert's turn to frown. That was insulting, of course he still had a job. Well… he had a job the last time he checked. Wait, never mind, it was just a false alarm. "I got laid off a couple days back." He shook his head, could clearly remember the events that led up to it. "They skipped me in the promotion. Damn thing could have saved my job."

"Oh… I-I'm sorry." Granted Matthew figured out that Gil didn't have a job, he always assumed that Gil would be fired from it for unruly behavior (harassment comes to mind first). "Well, at least you have a chance to go find a new job. I mean, what was your last job like?"

"Really bad. I was surrounded by idiots, freaks, and creeps who didn't know what the fuck they were doing."

"What about the guy who got the promotion?"

"Oh him? He falls into the 'creep' category. He was a smart creep though, really good at Battleship." The German looked down at his hands, traced the old scars on his hand from when he first started the job with his eyes. He smiled. "I liked my job… I just wasn't all that crazy about the people. They drove me crazy. God, they were retards. They were—they were—Argh! They were stupid! So stupid! This one guy, he almost destroyed our whole entire project because he took home the blueprints and his dog ate it. Fucking lucky I had a back up copy, man."

The blonde's lips quirked up into a grin. He couldn't help it, but seriously? A dog? Oldest trick in the book. Sounded like Gilbert was just making it up, but it was just so outlandish that he probably wasn't. "Don't worry Gil, you'll find a new job where you're not surrounded by freaks, creeps, and idiots.

"Actually, it's idiots, freaks, and creeps, but you got the general idea."

"A bit OCD are you?"

"I picked up bad habits from my brother."

Both looked at each other, before Matthew broke it to inspect the ground, a shy smile playing at the corner of his lips. With his legendary lopsided smirk on face, Gilbert slung an arm over the blonde's shoulder before pointing up at a cloud.

"I don't know about you, but I see an apple."

* * *

He's dreaming of somebody, a sweet blonde with the cutest smile he has ever seen. He couldn't see his environment, but that was mostly due to the fact that he wasn't really paying attention to that. Those striking red eyes were more than intent on a blonde curl that was just out of reach…

What was that thing?

How does it stay like that?

_What happens when I touch it?_ Gilbert wondered to himself as his hand acted on its own accord, but he wasn't doing much to stop it either. He could almost touch it now, his tongue sticking out of his mouth from the sheer concentration needed. But then there was a sudden change of pace and everything was painfully bright.

"What the fuck, don't shine that in my face." He whined, shielding his eyes from the painful burning of the light. He breathed a sigh of relief when they moved to an area that doesn't make him want to rip his eyeballs out.

"Mr. Beilschmidt?"

"Yeah… that's me, what's it to ya?"

"Hi!" The nurse waved at him, bright green eyes very much visible despite the poor lighting. "I'm Annie, one of the nurses in charge of you. Sorry about—you know, forgetting about you in the morning." Gilbert smiled weakly at her before looking at the head resting against his shoulder.

"What time is it?"

"Nine? Ten? I don't know, but it's really late. They want you back in the hospital now."

He mumbled something under his breath in German, slowly shifting positions as to not disturb the person using him as his personal pillow. He looked down at Matthew, watching as his curl moved with each breath he took and Gil had that urge to pull on it, just to see what would happen.

But he ignored it.

"You go ahead, I just need to wake up Mattie-boy here." Annie nodded at him, standing up, and smoothing down her scrubs before walking back towards the visible light of the hospital building.

_Now how do I wake him up?_ He tipped his head to the side. _Do I want to wake him up?_ He squinted his eyes, tried cocking his head in the other direction. _No, no I do not want to wake him up. How heavy could Matt be anyways?_ He got his answer when he scooped up the boy, nearly dropping him when he wriggled in Gil's grip before relaxing.

Gilbert sprinted to the hospital, intent on keeping Matt in his state of slumber, all the while ignoring the uncomfortable draft tickling his butt.

When he woke up sometime late into the night, he wasn't surprised to see that Matthew was nowhere to be seen or the lone cornflower resting on his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: I GOT A MEDAL OF AWESOMENESS! 8'D YAY!

* * *

_

Today was a beautiful day.

Not because it was sprinkling (but he really did love days like those, made him feel alive) and not because today was the day of Prussia's unification ("January 18! Don't forget that!") He declared today a beautiful day because he was going home.

Home, home on the range! Where the buffalo roam—Okay, enough with that song.

Anyways, maybe he was feeling a bit more like his cocky and usual arrogant self, but he threw a wink at the new nurse that had brought him his clothes, loving the way she would giggle to herself and coyly wave at him.

Aw yes, the thrill of the game! He almost forgot how good it was.

Ah, it wasn't as good without Francis and Antonio by his side, but he could live with it. Meeting Annie and Francille, it was a very good thing indeed. The first thing on his to-do list was to call them up and just catch up on good time's sake. No talking about jobs, girls, or sex. Just good ol' best friends, having a good ol' time on the phone.

Now, the first step towards that was to get dressed.

Gilbert sucked down a low groan of pain as he pulled his old shirt over his head. He rubbed the top of his head, that little area throbbing. _Damn headache, damn side effects, you can't bring this Prussian down today!_ He clenched his fist and reminded him to move slowly as he bent down to pick up his pants.

He realized with mixed emotions that he didn't need to wear his belt.

_Maybe I should lay off the pancakes now._ Gilbert scoffed at that thought, throwing his belt into the polyester bag the hospital lent to him. He fingered the last bottle of his meds, frowning to himself before grimacing and slipping it into his bag. It pained him to think that he still had to be drugged outside the hospital, but at least nobody would notice if he skipped a day… or a week. "God, I can't wait until I'm out of here. No more nurses watching me to make sure I take my meds and no more obnoxious doctor popping in on me randomly!"

His cheer of joy was cut short by, "I'm sorry to pop in so randomly. I must be so obnoxious, huh? You know, because I'm doing my job properly." Mr. Williams smiled at him as Gilbert weakly waved at him. "Anyways, you still have to take your medicine so here," He handed two extra bottles to Gil, "Two pills a day, no more and no less. Come back every week for a check up."

He made a face at the pills and faked a gag before wincing at the sharp pain that shot through his head like an arrow. _Damn that hurt. _"I have a headache, Doc. Anything for that?"

"Yeah, half a Tylenol." His doctor beckoned a nurse over, muttering something to her before she nodded and left to the medicine cabinet. She came back shortly after, muttering something under her breath as she handed them over to Gilbert and left.

"Remember, only half. Anymore and you might be having a worse case of side effects."

Gil's lip pulled back at the notion of having an even worse headache. And here he thought that this headache was bad, he's definitely not going to be overdosing on it or anything. He took the pill, it leaving this weird powdery residue in his mouth. _Ew._ "What happens if the pain doesn't go away?"

"Sleep it off."

_Even I could have thought of that. _Gilbert suddenly realized where Matthew got his rough-edges from. "Wow…" He mumbled under his breath as he opened up his other pill and took it dry like he usually does. "You know, you kind of remind me of somebody who's been in the army before."

"Never been in the army—"

"Ha—"

"—My wife used to be a Marine though. Is that good enough for you?"

_Woah, Matthew is a Marine brat? Never knew._ "Used to be?" He asked, closing the top of his bag to sling it over his shoulder. He tried to make his way through the door, but Matthew's father was blocking the exit. Gil cursed to himself, trying to see if he could inch past the older man, but there was no room. _Dammit, Matt must have taken his slender frame from his mother._ There was something he never though he would be thinking to himself. "Hey, Doc, could you move a little bit—"

"He never told you about his mother?"

"No." Gilbert answered, looking up to meet those blue eyes. He suddenly realized that if Mr. Williams was German instead of French, had slicked back his hair, and fixed that sloped posture… he could easily pass as his baby brother. _Okay, maybe not so much as my baby brother…_ "Um, why? What happened to her?"

"You should ask him. If he didn't tell you then he's just not ready to tell you." The man smiled down at his patient before gently turning his around and guiding him over to the bed. "So… I heard that you were friends with my son." That jesting tone in his voice didn't seem to really quell Gilbert's rabbit-hopping nerves.

"Yeeeaaaah… why?"

"Oh… I don't know, I find it rather cute. He always had a hard time making friends."

"Really now? I never would have known." He rolled his eyes as he took a seat on the bed again. And here he hoped that he would never have to sit on this bed ever again. It was rather uncomfortable now that he thought about it.

"Yeah, he tends to get a bit nosy and gets into other people's business."

_What? Matt? Are we talking about the same person?_ "Really?"

"Ah, well, you know how teenagers are."

"I do?"

"Anyways, he's going to be helping me in taking care of you. Now you're really lucky, most of my patients don't get twenty-four access to my home phone number, but since you're his friend… I'll make an exception this time." Gilbert watched in confused silence as the other scribbled down their home phone number in barely legible handwriting. _Sheesh,_ He thought as he took the offered number and slipped it into his pocket, _Is bad handwriting a requirement in doctors?_

"So where is he anyways?"

All Gilbert could catch was a soft 'Like hell if I know' from his doctor before he upped and left the other to his own devices. Gil took the opportunity presented to him to get one last look at the room where he's been spending his last week or so in.

He cracked into a wicked grin.

He didn't even look back as he walked out of the room.

* * *

As soon as he stepped out of those doors, the last thing he ever expected was somebody to bashfully thrust a cornflower into his chest. He grinned at Matthew as he carefully pried the flower out of those clenched fists and brushed back his own hair to nestle the thing behind his ear.

"How do I look? Awesome right?"

"The… blue really compliments your freakishly pale hair."

Gilbert just laughed and readjusted the strap that was beginning to dig a rut into his skin. He started walking, Matthew following suit and farther away from the hospital they went. Both didn't talk, Matt too worried about saying something awkward that might ruin the mood and Gil… well, he just wanted to get home and call up the one person on his mind.

He cast a sidelong glance over at his companion who was still following after him like an obedient pup as the duo neared the first street crossing. Gil quickly pushed the button, tongue sticking out in disgust before he wiped his hands on his pants. Whatever that sticky substance was, he didn't want to know. It wasn't long before the silly red flashing picture of the walking stickman showed up and Gilbert took a step off the curb. Matthew's step matched his perfectly.

He felt like an ecstatic owner of a new puppy. A cute little yellow lab puppy who just seemed a little bit lost and just a little bit cuddly. Okay, cross that out, he looked really cuddly. As Gilbert pressed the button of yet another streetlight, he decided that now was better than later.

"Are you planning on coming home with me or something?"

"H-Huh?"

What stopped him from squishing Matt's cheeks between his palms and cooing at that face, he didn't know. _Just play it cool._ He tried to calmly tell himself as all the cells in his body tried to reorganize themselves. "Well you know, you're pretty much just trailing after me at this point. Want to come over to my house for awhile?"

Maybe it was the side effects, but he had the uncanny feeling that he was back in high school again.

Nervous, sweating, the jitters… either that or he was smoking too much back then.

"My house isn't so far from here."

"Well, if it's not too much of a problem or anyth—"

"Awesome!" Gilbert's hand slammed against the button in his hasty excitement. Matthew was coming to his house. Matt was coming to his house, oh crap! What the hell did his house even _look_ like at this time and moment? His hand repeatedly smashed the poor button.

Matthew could just imagine the drawing on there was sobbing about being such a doormat.

"Ha ha, Gil? Y-You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm totally fine. Why'd you ask?"

The blonde continued watching as Gilbert mercilessly continued punching the button with his fingers. "Oh you know… some things just make me wonder." Gil's eyes followed the other's gaze to where he was still going at the button and he quickly slipped his hand into his pockets, embarrassed look on his face.

"I'm just a bit excited."

"A bit? I never noticed Gil."

"Oh shut up," He snorted, sticking his tongue out playfully to which Matthew sniggered. "I haven't been home in awhile, m'kay? I'm a bit curious to see what it'll look like."

"I'm pretty sure it'll look the same as before."

"No, not when you have a roommate as obnoxious and messy as mine."

"Woah, you have a—"

His question was drowned at the sudden panicked scream that managed to escape Gilbert's lips. Random babbling and nonsense came from his lips as those red eyes suddenly took on a wild look. "Oh my God! _Mein Gott_! I-I left him in his cage all this time!" His hands gripped his hair as he struggled to think of different outcomes for the scene playing over and over in his mind.

_He can't be dead. He just can't be._

It would be lying (and lying is _bad_) to say that Matthew wasn't scared. He was quite worried about the spectacle that Gilbert was performing, most cars slowing to watch his friend's panic-induced babbling. "Come on Gil, calm down. I-I'm sure he's—," Matthew reached out for the man, hoping to calm his nerves. He instantly regretted it when the Prussian grabbed his hand in a bruising hold and flew off with him.

He tried to ignore the honking, screeching, and screaming of the drivers as they flew past right in front of them.

It was easier said than done.

* * *

It was embarrassing, absolutely embarrassing.

The worst thing he had ever experienced in all his years on Earth.

His face burned even more just thinking about it: He had broken down into uncontrollable sobbing in front of Gil while he was in the middle of arguing with some driver who almost crashed into them.

Matthew was just standing there, listening to Gilbert scream and lecture the driver about how the pedestrian's always have the right of way and snapping at the young driver about where he got his driver's license. Then he looked at the car, the damage done to the brand spankin' new thing… so familiar and recognizable.

He could remember the feeling of pure terror slowly building up, coiling itself around his heart like a snake ready to strike as the adrenaline drained out his body. He was scared. He couldn't breath. He was scared. He couldn't think. He was scared.

Gilbert asked him if he was okay, but he didn't answer. Everybody fell quiet as he slowly started to lose himself. And then Gil snapped. He quietly told him that he should go to his apartment; that he needed to use the bathroom. As he left he could hear Gilbert explode, targeting the driver.

Embarrassing, he didn't need somebody to protect him like he was some princess. He just wants to scream and yell out into the world, but something is holding him back.

He still is scared.

"I look like crap." Matthew says aloud as he looks at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His usually somewhat tame hair was sticking up in all directions, this way and that from the run and his eyes were puffy from his breakdown. He nose wrinkles in distaste and he turns the faucet and washes his face.

The door opens and in Gilbert sticks his head. "You okay?"

"I'm okay." The blonde turns off the water and wipes his face on the towel. "How about you, are you okay?"

"Eh, I've been better. I made two people cry today. Not even close to my all time best so," He shrugged, "it's pretty depressing."

"You made that guy cry? God, what'd he ever do to you? You were the one who ran when the sign told you not to."

The other shrugged again as he went to stand by Matt. He tipped his head to the side as he stared at his own reflection. He looked rather different for some reason? Was it the not-smiling blonde next to him? Probably was, well, he's going to have to fix that.

"I lost my flower…"

"I noticed when it hit me in the face."

"Can you get me a new one? It oh-so complimented my hair color." Gilbert grinned at Matt's reflection, could see the beginnings of a smile on the other's face. It wasn't much, but at least it was something and Gil was glad for that.

"Of course Gilbert, cause a pretty blue flower really makes you more sure of your manhood."

"Hey!"

"So where's your roommate?"

"Oh, such a good question Watson! Where'd you go? Harvard?" He joked, leaving the bathroom to go and stand in the intersection of all the rooms. Matthew soon followed, stopping by his side and looking around. Considering the type of person Gilbert was, all the rooms are actually very tidy. It was like Hurricane Tidy came by and swept all the undesirables out.

"Well, he didn't escape his cage. That much I know." Gilbert said, feeling mixed feelings of both anxiety and relief. The house is clean meaning that Gilbird didn't escape, but that means that somebody took him out. Now who would do that?

"You taught him how to get out of his cage?"

"Just in case there's a fire or something. Don't look at me like that."

"I'm not looking at you in any way." Matthew argued, watching Gil as he walked away. He followed only when he realized that the other was going out. "Hey, Gil! Wait!" He called out as Gil held the door open for him. "What about your uh, pet? What are we going to do?"

He locked the door, slipping his key into his pants. "We're gonna go visit Bella."

"Bella?"

"Landlord." Gil went to the stairs, climbing down the three flights with practiced grace compared to Matthew who seemed to stumble every other step. As they turned the corner, the Canadian could see a compact house set apart from the apartments. There were flyers plastered over the wall and the mailbox had some papers sticking out of it.

He lingered in the background as Gilbert knocked one the door, it opening in record time to reveal a disheveled woman. Her eyes instantly brightened when she realized that it was Gilbert. She exclaimed something in some language that Matthew couldn't recognize, but Gil seemed to know what she was saying, responding in the same language.

She disappeared into her home, coming back later with a shoebox with breathing holes.

"_Oh my **GOD**_!" Was all Matt could understand before Gilbert started rambling in another tongue. The German ripped off the top of the box, revealing something small and yellow. He could tell that it wasn't good by that panicked look on his face as he hollered at his landlord, the woman yelling right back at him. The bickering lasted for a good four minutes before Bella finally had enough and snapped something and pointed at the rows of apartments. Gilbert stuck his tongue out at her before stalking off rejoin Matthew, grabbing the yellow thing and sticking it the top of his head.

Matt soon realized that it was a bird.

A bird was on Gilbert's head.

Oh God was it _dead_?

"G-Gil… is he… alive?"

He grumbled something under his breath, something that Matthew could understand. The albino plucked Gilbird off his head, looking him over more closely before cradling the bird close to his chest. "Ah, he's not dead. Thank God."

"Ah, why was he in a shoebox?"

"She didn't have a bird cage to use so she used that instead."

"Why didn't she just go get your cage? She has the master key…"

The older man scoffed, placing the bird back on his head. Matt could see the little thing shift itself into a more comfortable position. "Ah, well, Gilbird—this cute little fellow—he tends to be really…" He looked uncomfortable as he searched for the proper word, "He's really destructive. He already tore up her wallpaper when she went to the grocery store two days ago."

Matt looked at the tiny bird in a new light. That little thing could cause that much damage? It sent shivers down his spine as the two hiked up the stairs. God, how can Gil live with a pet like that? Gilbert unlocked the door, ushering the slightly shorter male in. "Well we managed to kill," His red eyes roamed about his living room for the clock. _I swear, that thing keeps mo—Oh. There it is._ "About an hour. Wow."

"Wait, where's your clock. What time is it, eh?"

"See that thing up there? In the corner? That's the clock."

"What thing? I can't see it. Your wallpaper keeps distracting me."

"What? It's not distracting. I got it in a good bargain."

"I-It's yellow-green with white stripes and clover prints!"

"It's awesome!"

There was no way he could win this argument (Gilbert started talking about how it was exactly like his blog's background), but it didn't stop Matthew from standing there sputtering like a broken sprinkler. "Y-You know what? I'm hungry so I'm going to go make some food for us." He walked out of the living room, albeit a bit stiffly and stopped when he reached the kitchen. He sighed in relief.

Thank God, Gilbert's gaudy sense in wallpapers didn't make it to the kitchen (It was a nice shade of purple with faint eggplant prints). It was a bit smaller than he was used to, but he could make do. He took an encouraging huff before he set to work. Now, where were the pots and pans?

He jumped over his couch, landing with a grunt before he groped about for the remote. He found it under a fleecy pillow that he couldn't ever remember buying ("Seriously, when did I buy this?" He mumbled to himself as he chucked it over his head). He propped himself up on his elbow as he searched through all the shows.

Nothing caught his attention. He really should get an extension pack. He could smell something cooking. It smelled good. Gil let out a small hum as he quietly got up, creeping over to where Matthew was busing himself.

"What'cha doing~?" He rested his hands on the boy's shoulder, lightly drumming his fingers. A small jolt of joy slinked its way through his body when he realized that if he leaned forward just a bit more, he could kiss that small patch of skin at the nape of Matt's neck… _Just a bit more…_

"Making food~" Matthew's shifting snapped Gil out of his daydream, realizing with a flushed face that he almost did kiss Matt's neck. Matt continues with what he's doing, never noticing how a pair of red eyes watched him in earnest interest. He quickly chopped some asparagus, dropping the little bits into the pot. Gil continues watching him, slowly pressing himself to the smaller framed man as Matt continues working. It was when Matt reached for the potatoes that he spoke again.

"Can I help~?"

"No." He turned around, a small gasp escaping when he ended up chest-to-chest with the other man. His face flushed red as he gently nudged the unfazed man away. "I can take care of this myself, go do something productive. Like finding better wallpaper for your living room."

"Wow, fine. Be that way." He stuck his tongue out at the young blonde, Matt returning it before going back to his work. Gilbert lingered at his spot behind Matt for just a few more seconds, moving away when could see that the Canadian was getting uncomfortable.

Down the hall and to the right he went, stopping to close his bedroom's door behind him. The bed dipped down under his weight, the empty prescription bottle rolling to him along with some stray pills. He picked them up and tossed them away into his waste bin. He scratched the side of his nose, eyes resting on his cell that sat on his bed stand. _Should I call him?_ "Hey, Gilbird, buddy… do you think I should call Francis?"

_Pyo, pyo!_

"I have no idea what you actually mean, but I'll take that as a yes." He scooped up his phone with one swipe of the arm. The little bells attached to them jingled as Gil laid back onto his bed, the cell's lit screen the only light in this room. "I haven't called him in five years," He said as Gilbird fluttered down to rest on his chest, "Do you think it'll be really weird to call him?"

_Pyo_!

"Hmn… you're right, I should stop being such a girl and just call him." Little chirps rang out as he pressed in Francis's number. "I mean, who wouldn't want to get a call from me? It's me!" Gil laughed, it coming out more forced than he intended. "But you know… what happens if he doesn't remember me or something?" He can hear the phone ringing. "God, maybe this is just a bad move—" The ringing stopped, a voice he hadn't heard in a long time answering.

"_Bonjour_?"

"H-Hey Francis…"

* * *

Matthew smiled to himself from where he stood, resting against Gilbert's door, carrying the soup he made on a tray. He could hear the rustling of bed sheets as the German moved to get into a more comfortable position and his smile grew bigger. "Took him long enough." He mumbled to himself as he walked away.

Seemed like he was eating by himself today.

* * *

"_Who is this?_"

"You don't recognize me Frenchy?"

"_Gilbert, is this really you?_"

He laughed. "Who else would it be? The Tooth Fairy?"

He could hear the Frenchman's silky laughter on the other side of the phone. At least some things about Francis didn't change; his laugh has always calmed him down. "_I honestly gave up on waiting for your call. I would have called you, but it seems that you got a new cell._"

"Yeah, I accidently dropped it into my ice cream." The two friends laughed simultaneously. Gilbert scratched at his pale hair, stopping the scratching when he went a bit too strong and probably made a scab. "So what's up?"

"_I got married, Gil._"

"What?" _When did that happen? I missed my best friend's wedding? _

"_Yeah, about two years back._" He could just hear the proud note in Francis's voice. "_You won't be able to guess who's my lovely hubby._"

"Arthur."

"_Am I that readable?_" The Frenchman chuckled and Gilbert could hear some background noise. Sounded like an oven being opened or something. "_But I have some problems, Gil. I met her. I met the perfect one._"

"Damn."

"_Oui. Her name is Jeanne and she's the cutest thing I have ever seen. I don't know what to do._" There was a pause and a sigh before Francis's voice started up again. "_Arthur doesn't seem to like her very much, but I don't know why. It seems like Jeanne only gets along well with me._"

Now Gilbert was feeling a bit left behind. Arthur knew about Jeanne? Arthur participates in threesomes? Gilbert faked a gag at the image that came to mind. _No, no. Not that Arthur, I can't see him doing that._ "Frenchy, I'm a bit confu—"

"_Ah! I just got the cutest picture of those two!_" Francis's voice came out loud through his phone. So loud that Gil held it away from his ear. Something was going on in the background. He could hear… Arthur screaming. Why was that not surprising? "_Ah, Arthur is so aggressive sometimes~_" He could hear Francis call out and he was pretty sure it wasn't directed at him… but it didn't make it less disturbing.

"ARGH, don't need that mental image."

"_Hon hon hon~ Hold on! Hold on! I'm sending the picture over to you! I don't know why Arthur is so upset about it. It's absolutely adorable!" _And like clockwork a small notice went up alerting Gilbert to a new message. He opened it up and he couldn't help but smile a bit.

There was Arthur, plain ol' Arthur, sitting on this huge green armchair and there was a little girl, her wavy blonde hair cut very short, leaning upwards towards the man. Her face was scrunched up into a pursed look; her lips puckered out and what was touching her lips were Arthur's own.

"That's actually pretty damn cute."

"_Isn't it? It's the first time Jeanne has even showed affection towards her other papa._" Francis's laugh was louder than the banging on the door. Gilbert could safely assume that Francis was hiding in the bathroom. That man always hid in the bathrooms when they were little whenever they chased by bullies. It wasn't always effective, but still Francis kept hiding there. "_So what's going on over on your side? Did you find somebody yet?_"

"I'll save that for another phone conversation. You just reminded me that my _somebody_'s been making food for me. He's probably out there eating by himself and that's not awesome."

"_Awwww~_"

"Oh shut up." He snapped into the phone, but it still didn't get rid of the playful undertone. "Anyways, gotta go. I'll call you again."

"_You better. Bye Gilbert, 'till next time._"

"Till next time."

_Click_.


	6. Chapter 6

_AN: Ah, there's another PruCan story with the title of Message. First come first serve, should I rename this series? I got a ribbon and a Tawnyblood medal. Ku fu fu fu~ The more I think about it, the more I relate it to Pokemon. And talking about Pokemon, there was this game where I thought Moltres was a chicken. Thanks for the reviews too. :) Forgot to mention that before._

_

* * *

_

Gilbert didn't sleep in his own bed last night. The memories of what happened about a week ago were still too freshly embedded into his mind and now thinking about it, it's a bit embarrassing. When he was sitting on his bed after Francis's phone call, he wondered what would have happened if he had died.

Would he have been able to come to terms with the fact that he's _a bit_ afraid of change?

The word '_a bit_' doesn't really cover the true extent of his fear, but that's all he's willing to admit for the moment.

"Oh sigh." He mumbles to himself as he rolls off the couch, landing on the ground with some difficulties. He stretches, arms reaching upwards and his fingers grabbing at the air as a low groan of appreciation came forth. He hums to himself as he rubs the small of his back and trudges off to the bathroom.

He comes back out twenty minutes later, humming a song softly under his breath. He walks into his kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out the milk. Good old milk, was it spoiled? Gilbert shook the jug, its contents jiggling like Jell-o. "Oh _ew_, that's disgusting. I barely drank any of it too."

_Just great, what am I supposed to eat?_ There was nothing in the cabinets and whatever was left in there was definitely contaminated by the dead cockroach he found in his cereal box. God, he knew he had a bug infestation in this ratty apartment. It was just a matter of what and when…

"Gilbird, where do you think I should eat?" The fat bird tipped his head curiously at his owner before flying over to Gil's broken coffee maker. He's always meant to replace that. "A coffee shop huh? Maybe I should, but should I bring somebody with me? It'll be weird if I go alone…"

_Pyo!_

Gil spluttered, but that quickly turned into a raucous cough when he chocked on his spit. "Don't talk that way about Matt!" He snapped. Then it clicked that he was scolding his pet bird for talking about his friend. That definitely wasn't weird. "Okay, I think it's time for me to take some of my meds." He sighed, getting up and dragging his feet over into his living room. He scooped up his bag with one scoop and yanks the top open.

"Where the hell did I put them?"

He throws everything out, not caring where it lands or where it goes. There was only one thing one his mind and that was to find the freaking bottle. Gilbird stares at his owner for a little bit more before seeming to hang his head sadly. He beats his wings once and he's off in the air, skillfully dodging the flying projectile of lint and worn up papers.

The gold-colored bird landed at his namesake's side, beady eyes trained on a single sheet of paper floating down. He could see something blue scribbled onto it, but it looked like gibberish. For all he knew, it might as well be gibberish. Regardless of what it said though, Gilbird latched onto the scrap of paper before it could float away like the other worthless trash.

Something deep in his tiny pulsing heart told him that Gilbert would want to see this.

Gilbird tipped his head to the side as he watched Gilbert toss something small and oval-shaped into his mouth before the man twisted the cap back on and threw it into his bag. Gilbird made a little reminder to himself to check out what the hell that was when his owner went to sleep.

_Pyo_!

"What, what, what?" The words dragged out despite the impatient tone underlying in his voice. He frowns at the curious sight of a young bird with a piece of paper in his mouth. "Now boy, what'cha got there?" Gilbert reached for it, but Gilbird was quicker. He dropped the thing onto the ground and slapped his scaly foot onto it.

_Pyo_, _pyo_.

"That's my doctor's number, Gil." The German's face screwed up at the words that left his mouth. Okay, so he shouldn't try to give Gilbird a nickname. He jerked the scrap out from under Gilbird, the bird tumbling over. He gave an angry chirp, but by then Gilbert wasn't listening. "What would I want with Mr. Williams's—Oh. _OH_. Mattie seems like the type to be living with his dad still. Maybe." He sighed, picking himself off the ground and wandering over to where his phone was. Gilbird flew after him, slowing to a stop to nestle himself into thick white hair.

His phone was one of those old types, the kind where you dialed numbers by rotating the dial itself. It was a sweet thing that Gilbert had found in his old home (the one that he used to share with his brother and his lover). He had fixed it up, polished it with a little bit of spit, and tah-dah! The thing was as good as new.

About how he acquired his awesome vintage phone aside… he dialed in the number, feeling those caterpillars in his stomachs slowly wrapping themselves into cocoons. And now was the metamorphous as he listened to the phone ringing. It was still ringing, still ringing, and finally the caterpillars transformed into those lovely butterflies.

"H-Hey Mr. Williams," He wiped his palms on his jeans. When did they get so sweaty? "I'm not calling because of uh, medical stuff… um, I'm just wondering if—"

"About my son right?"

"Yeah… can I talk to him?"

"You just missed him. He usually leaves at this time to some… café that he likes." There was a pause of the other side of the phone line and Gil could hear the man moving before he spoke up again, sounding just a bit peeved off, "If you want I can tell you the name of the shop. He should be there by now."

"I'll really appreciate that Doc."

"Yeah, sure, I know. Uh, I think the name was something like—"

* * *

"Allied Hearts Café." Gilbert read off, a small upturn of his lips contrasting with the dubious look on his face as he stared at the stand up menu situated at the outside. "Huh, the soup of the day is Split Pea Soup." His lip grew a margin bigger. _Probably not as good as mine, but what the hell, came all the way here so why not try it._

It was weird to be walking into such a shop like this one; one that wasn't very heavily populated, but had enough people to make it seem… well, cozy. Or maybe it was just the warm colors that made up the walls or the fact that he sat in his car for thirty minutes to get to this damn place. _Mr. Williams wasn't kidding when he said it was almost on the other side of town._

Red eyes scanned the area for a familiar head of wavy blonde tresses. It shouldn't be that hard, especially with that one crazy curl of Matthew's that was just in his face. And indeed it wasn't that difficult, Gil found the other sitting at a window booth reading a newspaper ("I bet he's reading the stocks." Gilbert joked to himself) and snacking on well… something that he couldn't see too well from this distance.

Time to fix that~

Agilely dodging fellow costumers and waitresses, he slid into the seat on the other side of Matt, propping his elbows on the polished desk, and did his best to smile innocently at the other. It turned into a more… mischievous type of smile as the newspaper was slowly lowered to reveal Matt's non-too-pleased look.

"Hey Matt."

Those pretty blue-violet eyes narrowed before they darted over to the side and the newspaper was back up again, a makeshift barrier from the predatory glint in the other's eyes. "Hey Gil… what are you doing here?"

"What?" He slowly pushed the newspaper down, taking away Matt's shield. "Can't I visit a friend?" Gilbert tried his best to smile reassuringly at the other, but it did nothing more than cause Matt to slowly… back… away. "Come on, is it really that weird that I'm here?"

"It is when your home is on the other side of town." Matthew retorted, big lavender-colored eyes staring right into those bemused crimson red eyes. They stared at each other for awhile before the blonde broke contact first, finding the comic section of the newspaper very interesting… despite the fact that he reread it twice already. "Don't get me wrong or anything, it's nice that you would here just to see me."

He flippantly waved off the comment, a bit more interested in flagging down a waitress at the moment. "It's nothing, kid." He said after telling the poor waitress that he wanted some of the soup-of-the-day and an espresso coffee with a touch of vanilla and a whole lot of _real_ sugar. None of that low-carb, no-fat junk. Gil tapped his slender fingers along the table as Matthew picked up the newspaper, flipped to a new page, and popped something into his mouth.

"Are you eating _Smarties_?"

He looked over his glasses only to frown as a blush made it way to his cheeks and ears. "Yes I am." Matt said defensively. What, did Gil have a problem with Smarties or something that he should be aware about? Like he got Smarties stuck up his nose once as a kid and had to go to the hospital to get it removed (He never let Alfred live that one down)? "Do you want some, eh?"

"Nah, I'm just a bit disappointed by your… way of eating Smarties. So not awesome."

Matthew was confused, but that was obvious by his deer-in-the headlight look. "What's wrong with the way I'm eating Smarties?"

"You're not getting the best part." He whined, reaching over to grab the rest of the Smarties. All of them were still in one piece, but not for long. Gilbert smiled as he proceeded to smash the rest of them so that there were no survivors. Poor Smarties. "See, the powder is the best part. It just melts on your tongue." He didn't pay attention to the look of distress on the blonde's face. With skilled hands, Gil formed the end of the wrapper into a demented circular shape and brought it to his lips. He took in a quick suck before puffing out Smartie powder.

"Gil… are you suggesting I should smoke _Smarties_?" Blue-violet eyes stayed glued on the powder as it elegantly curled in on itself, a little private dance for the two of them before it dispersed into the café's atmosphere. He hated to admit it, but it did look rather… pretty.

"Why yes, yes I am." He handed over the Smartie cigar, a goofy smile on his face. Matthew took the thing with a frown on his face and stared down at the multitude of colored powder. Gilbert motioned for him to continue, smile on his face still. "Come on, it's not hard."

The blonde grumbled something under his breath before bringing the end to his lips. He sucked it in and immediately started coughing. He struggled to regain his breath all the while glaring at Gilbert who seemed to find great amusement in watching Matt splutter and cough about. "I—" The blonde coughed. "—I, I—"

"You shoulda seen the look on your face."Gilbert said as he took back the fake cigarette and took a quick puff of it. "Absolutely hilarious."

"How do you do that?"

"Do what? Smoke Smarties?"

"Yes."

The albino shrugged and poured some of the powder into his mouth, wincing a bit at the sharp pain on his tongue. _When did I cut my tongue?_ "You inhale it and blow it back out before it's too damp to do anything." He shrugged at his own explanation before taking another 'drag' out of Matt's Smarties. "It's not that hard. I learned it in like… five minutes." He handed back the wrapping. "Just keep trying. Maybe curl your tongue to make a tunnel or something."

"A tunnel?"

"Yeah, a tunnel. Thing." He opened his mouth, revealing the position his tongue was in. "That's what I was doing when I first did it successfully." His lips twitched into a smirk at the oh-so intense look on concentration on Matt's face. It was pretty damn endearing. "Try it."

And that was what the younger male did. He poured all the powder onto his tongue and blew it all back out. Ungracefully and right into Gilbert's face. The older man cursed as the powder flew into his face and swatted his hands around in a futile effort to get the damned thing away. Matthew just laughed.

"Well, you managed to do it." He grumbled. "Just in a really fucked up way." Matthew laughed harder, not noticing a waitress heading towards them. "It was like a motherfucking blow-dryer man." Gilbert scoffed as Gilbird fluttered down onto Matt's hand to try and eat some of that yummy and fun looking stuff.

"Excuse me sir, but we're going to have to ask you to leave." Spoke a new voice. Both men looked up to find the grim face of a young waitress. "There is no smoking policy here and you two are breaking it so can you please leave?"

"W-What? But we're not _smoking_-smoking!"

"Yeah, we're just smoking Smarties. Nothing harmful about that."

The waitress frowned, eyes darting over to the side. "Um, well…" Gilbert bit his bottom lip in a pathetic attempt to keep from laughing when he noticed that the woman was blinking Morse Code over to another one of her co-workers. She did not receive the help she so desperately wanted as the other one laughed—and pointed—at her before running off. "You know, um, I think it's best you leave before my boss decides to come out."

"I-I got it miss, if you'll excuse me…" Matthew started gathering up all his stuff when a pale hand held out stopped him. Matt peered blankly at Gilbert before glaring when he realized that the albino was riling for an argument.

He wouldn't do it. Nooo…

"Sorry girl, but we're not _actually_ breaking any rules."

Oh, he went there.

"Gil, now's not a time to get technical."

"Just chill Birdie, I got this~ I got this~" He didn't see the figure that slipped out from behind the working counter until the man was standing next to the waitress. All conversation in the café slowly died off as the store's owner looked at Gilbert and Matthew. The girl paled when he turned his gaze to her, nervously biting her lip to keep from—well, it looked like she was about to cry, but honestly everybody looked like they were about to cry as the tall man loomed down on them.

"Is ther' a pr'blem?"

"No Mr. Ox…en…stier…na." She said, voice dropping low as she struggled to remember the man's last name. Or how to pronounce it for that matter. Oh dammit, did she mispronounce his name? Why's he staring at her? Oh God, is she _shaking_ now? "Er, sir?"

"Tol' y'u to call m' Berw'ld." He mumbled, those teal eyes staring straight at her. She thought she was about to faint from fear. Is it possible to do that? Berwald turned back to the other two, Gilbert swallowing visibly underneath that stony stare while Matthew just shrank into the corner of the booth. "W're y'u smo'k'ng?"

Matthew looked to Gilbert, his eyes clearly screaming out, '_What the hell did he just say?_' Gilbert coughed into his fist once, before attempting to answer. He failed the first time, it being a nonsensical babbling of German. "Um, we're weren't _smoking_-smoking… just smoking… _Smarties_."

"Smarti's?"

"Y-Yeah… candy."

Berwald slowly nodded his head, a grunt the only thing to show that he understood what Gilbert had told him. "Bad influ'nc'." He commented, mostly to himself, but that didn't stop the others from nodding in argument. Mostly out of fear, but whatever. "Le've y'u off wi'h a warnin' t'is tim'. Don't do it ag'n."

"Yes, sir!" Gilbert and Matthew quickly gathered their stuff and as they dashed out of the café, watching them run off while nonchalantly waving them goodbye was Berwald.

* * *

"Did you see that man's face? I thought he was going to _eat_ me!"

"He wouldn't eat you. Well, maybe not as a main course. Maybe a snack."

"Gil!"

The older man laughed, slapping Matthew on the back as they strolled through the park. Gil had recomposed himself shortly after running away like some hornet chasing after some invader, but Matthew on the other hand… he was still a bit out of it. Gilbert slung his arm over the younger's shoulder, forcing him to get a bit closer and walk a bit slower than that brisk pace he was going at before.

"Matt chill, you're wound up like one of those Japanese toys that I got in the mail one day." He said, waving his right hand around in a lazy circle as he guided the both of them over to a large tree with a free patch of grassy shade. He sat down on the grass, Matthew clumsily following suit.

"You know what, eh? I'm not so surprised that you get random toys in the mail anymore. Not after seeing your apartment."

"What? Is my awesome pad that weird?"

"I went to use your bathroom once, but I didn't when I realized that two panda plushies were staring at me."

"Oh." Gilbert rubbed his chin, red eyes absentmindedly watching three tweens goofing around. "I've been looking for those guys." He looked away from the scene when one of the children caught his eye. "Been meaning to sell them on Ebay, but I can't do that when I can't even find them."

Matt just nodded his head, more interested in why Gilbert was watching a couple of kids play. A twenty-five or so year old man watching a couple of prepubescent kids just doesn't send a good first image, no matter how innocent it really is. "Gil, do you want to go play with them? I think they're playing Tag."

He snorted and spluttered, but the blush on his face told the world the truth. "Aren't we a little too old to play Tag with a bunch of kids?" He retorted, stubbornly keeping his lips from betraying any of his hope. Sadly, Matthew was able to read him like a book under a magnifying glass.

"Well, I'm going to go ask them if I can join." He said as he got up, patting fallen leaves and dirt off his clothes. He readjusted his bag as slowly as possible, trying to give Gilbert enough time to get over his pride. It didn't work so Matt took a step. And then another. And another before Gil finally stood up.

"You're going to look like a retard running around playing tag by yourself with a bunch of kids and normally I wouldn't mind that," He glared at the grin threatening to break out on the blonde's face. "But you're my friend and I can't let you do that."

"Aw, I'm blessed to have a friend like you."

"Damn right." And with that the both of them made their way over to the kids, not noticing another fair-haired male watching them off to the side. His eyebrows furrowed as he watched Gil and Matt get nearer and nearer to the children. He saw how they were staring at those kids, especially at his son. What were they doing? What did they want? When his son stopped running and waited for those two to get to him, he decided that it was time to interfere.

The Prussian peered blankly down at the young blonde staring up at him. He was at the total lost of what to say and honestly… all he could see where those hairy eyebrows. _Are they REAL?_ He wondered to himself as Matt nudged him with his elbow. "Um, hi."

"Hey." The kid greeted in return, taking a step back to stand closer to his friends: a young girl with a bandage on her forehead and her curly brown hair tied up high and off to the side, and another boy who looked a tad bit older (but not by much) with auburn hair and a strange curl unlike one he has ever seen… sticking straight out of his head.

The blonde looked off the side, his massive eyebrows furrowing as his eyes searched out somebody and… there he was! "Dad! Over here!" Gilbert and Matthew looked over to where the kid was waving at before exchanging worried glances.

Oh shit.

The trio of kids instantly moves to stand behind him, peering behind his legs at the strangers in curiosity. Gilbert and Matt stare down at him as he stares back up at them, nobody making a move to break the silence. Well, nobody made a move for about five minutes. "Um, why are you approaching my kids?"

Gilbert sent Matt a look along the lines of, '_You were the one who wanted to act on our impulses. You answer._' And so Matt nervously chuckles and sticks out his hand in greeting. "I'm Matthew Williams," He withdrew his hand when the other didn't shake it and pointed at his albino companion. "And this is Gilbert Beilschmidt."

Maybe there was something wrong with Gilbert. There was definitely something wrong with him as he blabbed out, "We just wanted to play Tag with them. None of us are interested in kids… that way. Yeah."

Matthew wanted to slap himself.

The older male warily eyed Gilbert before slowly nodding. "I'm Tino…" And as if that was a magic word for everything being okay in the world, the small blonde standing by his side suddenly burst into energetic rambling.

"Hi! I'm Peter and this is Bianca," Peter pointed to the girl with the curly hair who waved at them lazily, her interest lost in the new people now that Tino had decided that they weren't threats. "And that is Marcello!" Peter redirected their attention to the boy with the one crazy curl who smiled cheerfully at them and waved at them with enough energy to make up for Bianca's half assed one.

"So you want to play Tag with us right? Well, there's some rules that you gotta know! Like there's no home base since only lame-os do that!" He grabbed both Gilbert's and Matthew's hands and dragged them off all the while listing what they can and can't do in an intense game of Tag.

Bianca and Marcello shared one glance at each other before running off after him, calling out to him to stop talking and just get playing already. Tino watched the five of them dash off before sighing and going back to his place at the shade. He left his book right at the climax…

It was around six when Tino finally called for the five of them to end their game of Lava Tag. He could hear a loud call of, "Last one there is a rotten egg!" From Gilbert he bet and it wasn't long before he was struggling to keep himself upright with Peter hugging him fiercely while screaming out that he won. Matt and Gilbert finished last for Gilbert had the grand and bright idea that now would be a good time to try some kind of a… tag team thing, but it just ended up with Matthew getting a piggyback ride from Gil.

"Hey Tino, thanks for paying for our meals by the way. Forgot to thank you for that." Gilbert smiled as he let Matthew off his back and shook hands with Tino. The shorter blonde blonde smiled at the two of them.

"It's not a problem."

"That's nice to hear, but if there's ever, um, any way of repay you please tell us." The Canadian said this time, shyly fixing his glasses as Tino smiled at him in a way that reminded him of his mother.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Peter munched on his lollipop, blue eyes darting between Gilbert and Matthew. He looked over to Bianca and Marcello, motioning those two closer and whispered into their ears. All three looked over to the duo before looking back at each other. Bianca and Marcello pointed at Peter. He mouthed a heartfelt '_I hate you_' to them before tugging on Gilbert's shirt.

"Hmn? What is it kid?"

"Are you two fags?"

Well that was surprising.

The first one to move was the Italian Marcello who immediately clamped his hand over Peter's mouth; his eyes wide as he stared up at the speechless look on the adults' faces. "Peter you dumbass!"

The first adult to regain their marbles was a livid Finish man. "Marcello, did you teach Peter that word?" He sighed heavily at the guilty look on the Italian's face as he tried to explain that the word just… _slipped out_ when Peter was actually paying attention to him. "Oh my God… what a mess." Tino rubbed at his forehead before turning over to Gilbert and Matt. "I'm so sorry about that. Peter's just a kid, he didn't mean what he said."

"Yes I did—Ow! What was that for? Daaaad, Bianca hit me!"

Tino sighed again. "I'm so sorry about that, I'll talk to Peter about that later. I'm so—"

"Yep kid, we're totally faggy for each other." Gilbert announced as he grabbed Matt by his shoulder and tugged them flush together. He gave Matthew no time to question what was going on in his mind. "But you know, I like the term _gay_ more 'cause—you know, it's more awesome. You're awesome right?"

"I'm awesome!"

"Yeah, you're totally awesome and remember, they don't say _fag_. That's a dumb word." _Well, so is gay in the way some people used it, but Tino can tell him that._ "Soooo… anything else?"

This time it was Bianca who spoke up, interest evident in her eyes. "You guys don't act like most couples. Like Peter's parents are always kissing and making kissy faces and stuff. " Matthew looked over to see Tino's face a very unhealthy shade of red. "Do all couples do that?"

"Okay kids, that's enough. They have to get home too you know." The Finish man stated while ushering the protesting kids over to where their stuff where. He looked over his shoulder and smiled the two. "My husband and I work at the Allied Hearts Café, if you ever have some free time feel free to visit okay? It'll be nice to see you two again." With that said, he left the 'couple' to their own devices.

As soon as the family was out of eyesight and earshot, Matthew punched Gilbert in the arm. Really hard. He yelped, rubbing his arm as his eyes followed the figure of the blonde as he started walking back to the sidewalk.

"Matt! What was that for?" He called out, catching up with little effort. Their footsteps matched step-for-step, but the Canadian refused to meet the probing gaze of the German lest he see the blush on his face. "Come on Matt, what's wrong?"

"Y-You just told utter strangers that we're dating!"

"Do you have a problem with gay people?"

"No! I-It's just—"

"Is it me?" Matt looked up in surprise, the worried tone in Gilbert's voice shocking. The older man watched Matt for who know's how long, only looking down when he felt the other's fingers tangling themselves with his. He smiled, a fond type that Matt has never seen before. "You know, this is nice. Pretending to be a gay couple with you. We should do this more often."

Matt didn't answer, but Gilbert's smile grew larger at the slight squeeze he felt. As the two of them continued strolling down the street to their cars, the night sky blossoming behind them into stars… Gilbert could honestly say that today should be written down into history.

When he woke up in the middle of the night with a hankering for something warm and resembling soup, Gil wondered when Matthew had managed to place a blue cornflower in his microwave.

Oh well.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: Half way through writing this I had a PCS episode so I was sitting up totally straight to help lessen the pain and it was very uncomfortable because I slump when I write. Lasted for fifteen minutes. It was not fun. God, this week's been a general pain, but PruCan always makes me feel better. :]_

* * *

They were seated at the kitchen table, both staring intently into each other's eyes. Gilbert took in a deep breath and drew himself up to look more intimidating, but it wasn't working. Matthew's steely gaze was trained onto him, silently daring him to just _do it_. Gilbert's glare matched Matt's tight-lipped look for only a few more seconds before it faltered and he called it quits.

"Okay fine, I'll call him, but if something bad happens it's over your head." He jabs a finger in Matt's direction and his lips pull back into a snarl at the rare and cocky smirk on the blonde's face. He snatched the phone out of his hand before punching in a number. He rests the phone on the joint where his neck meets his shoulder, quietly waiting for him to pick up the phone.

_Click_.

It was the machine that picked up Gil's call. "_Hello, you have reached the Beilschmidt-Vargas residence, but we are not able to answer your call at the moment. Please leave your name, business, and phone number after the beep. Thank you._" It said before it was repeated in German and Italian once again.

Gilbert mutters a curse in German under his breath, but Matthew was able to hear it… not that it mattered too much. His German wasn't _that_ good. Gil slams the phone back onto its receiver, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest. "He's not home."

"You could have left a message."

The older male mocks what was said before sighing. "Well, who else do you want me to call?" He spat out. Matthew's only response was the slightest twitch of his right eye, but Gilbert learned from watching hockey with the other that it meant somebody was close to snapping.

"Why are you in such a bad mood today, eh?"

He replied in German and even though Matt had no idea what he said specifically… he had a pretty good idea by the tone. Gilbert's lips pursed together as if he had tasted something bitter and he turned his back to the blonde.

"_Mon dieu…_ Gil…"

His bad temperedness was affecting everybody in the room; including Gilbird who ended up having to be locked up in his cage. The little bird went bat-shit crazy and had tried to attack Matthew when he had walked into the room the bird was in. Gilbert had said he had no idea why he had done that, but Matt had an odd feeling that he knew why.

Matthew's frown grew even deeper when he caught Gilbert blatantly scowling at him at him now. He knew that it had to do with him, but just what the hell was it? Gilbert had let him in when he showed up, but all he's doing is just scowling at him. What did he do? "Was this about last week?"

And he got his answer when Gil promptly stood up, his chair making a screeching noise as it scraped along his floor, and the man stomped out of the kitchen and headed to the living room. From where Matt sat, he could hear the television being turned on.

The Canadian sighed and buried his face into his hands. Gil could be such a woman sometimes, he realized with a slight twinge of amusement to that thought. A small smile made its way onto his otherwise dreary face as he stretched. He was going to need the most of his patience for this day. He quietly got up and stole a peek into the living room.

He retreated back into the kitchen. Gilbert was watching him, glowering at him from the living room. How creepy. Matthew sighed and picked up the phone, fingers already punching in Francis's number, but they stopped midway. He hung it back onto the receiver. There was no way he was calling that man. Maybe he could call Arthur—no, wait, maybe… no… how about Alfred? He blanched just at the thought of doing that. How about Mattias? Wait, he hasn't talked to him since high school. That'll be a bit awkward.

Matt let out a small groan as he took dubious steps towards Gilbert, the man's white-hot gaze still trained onto him. God, this was like a suicide mission or something. He took a seat down next to Gilbert, feeling increasingly awkward when the man's gaze didn't relent. He clumsily smoothed out the wrinkles in his pants, at a lost of what to say.

"So… uh…"

Oh what a smart thing to say.

The hard-edged glint in those eyes softened just a bit, but it was enough for Matthew to gather up his courage once again. Then he ran into a roadblock, freezing up when he realized that Gilbert didn't look so mad… just really amused. Okay, so he still looked mad, but not as mad as he originally thought. "I-I… well… uh…"

Oh dammit, why did _that_ have to be on his mind? A white eyebrow arched upwards as the blonde continued stumbling over his words, trying to find something that he can voice other than _that_.

"Matt, you okay? You're face is really red."

Oh, and here he thought it was because of Gilbert's broken air conditioner. Matthew patted his face, willing the burning to disappear or at least dull down. But just like the moon, the burning faded away only to come back full force again when Gilbert opened his big… fat… mouth.

"Are you acting so weird because of that gay couple thing? To be totally honest, I thought it was pretty—OOF!" He toppled over, hands instinctively clutching at the thing covering his face. He let out a guttural groan, dazed and stunned from the pillow hitting him square on the face. Gilbert quickly recovered with a shake of his head, chucking the sushi-shaped pillow back to his attacker.

He playfully growled at the other, Matthew having burst out laughing when the attack had missed its target by at least three feet. He faked a start towards Matthew; his red eyes filled with mirth as the two of them slowly eyed each other, daring the other to be the first to move. Matthew made a move first, reaching for a pillow, but Gilbert was quicker. He grabbed one of his iPod-shaped pillows and threw it hard at Matt.

The blonde caught it as it hit his face, his laughter muffled by the thing. He grabbed the thing, blue-violet eyes scanning for the familiar figure of Gilbert, but he found him too late. He let out a yelp when he felt the other wrap an arm around his neck, putting him into a chokehold, and he struggled against the grip for a brief second before both of them broke into raucous laughter again, Gil's hold relaxing so that the Canadian could easily slip through.

Slowly the laughter died down, Matthew holding the iPod-shaped pillow in his hand. He stared down at the thing, chest heaving a bit from the strain of laughing so hard. He couldn't help but laughed again as he handed it over to Gilbert. "Where do you even get a pillow like that, eh?"

Gilbert looked the pillow over, hand running over the fake screen before he tossed it back onto the couch. "How the hell should I know? I don't even know how I got half of the stuff in this place."

"Really?"

"Really."

Matt nods his head absent-mindedly, his line of thought shifting back to the beginning again. He watches as Gilbert moves about the house, picking up the pillows that they tossed at each other. Gil was finally in a good mood and he didn't really have any intention of ruining that, but… he really was curious. "Hey Gil…"

"Yeah?" He didn't even look up.

"Why were you so prissy this morning?"

This time he looked at him, a furrow in his brows. "I wasn't that bitchy was I?" He commented casually enough, but Matthew could see him clenching and unclenching the cushions in his hands.

"You were so bitchy Gil. Like a man with a stick up his ass."

"Okay, I know for sure that I wasn't _that_ bitchy. A bit maybe, but not that much."

"Is this going to be a conversation on how bitchy you were or on why?"

Matt's lips twitched upwards as Gilbert stuck his bottom lip out, pretending to mull over the subject in his mind. In all honesty, Matt found the expression very similar to a duck's face. Not that he was going to tell the man that…

"Can't we keep talking about how bitchy I was?"

"Gil…"

"Fine, fine, fine." He took in a deep breath—face a bit flushed—and made his way over to his couch, settling down amongst all the useless crap he had bought. He motioned Matthew over and once both were sitting comfortably side-by-side did he speak again. "Well, you know how last week we pretended to be a couple?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, heart speeding up at just the memory. "Ah, y-yeah. What about it, eh?"

Gilbert coughed into his fist, red eyes shifting over to the right and away from Matt. He calmly threw his arm to rest along the sofa's top, all the while telling himself that it wasn't some messed form of the 'yawn-and-shoulder-grab.' "Well, after we left you never visited me even once, man." He cursed under his breath when he realized just how _girly_ that came out. _Damnit! That came out wrong! ARGH._ "I-I mean, you have time to send me flowers, but you don't have time to just sit down and talk to me?"

The Prussian kept his face away from Matthew, could feel the other's gaze just watching him; studying him. He nearly leapt out of his skin when Matthew let his head rest on his shoulder. "Well I'm sorry Gil. I would have visited you if I knew you missed me that much." He smiled, the silver-haired man spluttering. "I've had a busy schedule last week, but I'll make it up to you okay?"

He didn't have the heart to tell him that he just spent most of his time walking around the neighborhood, thinking about this and that and… _Gil._

"When?"

"Tonight if you want."

"It's a date then."

"Okay then."

* * *

He almost regretted stepping out of the cozy café, the personable yet busy atmosphere having set the two of them into a good mood. It was just a feeling that he regretted leaving, a feeling of being able to be one-self without anybody watching you… judging you because they're busy having fun too. He almost regretted stepping out of the café because of that feeling, but he couldn't really when being with Matthew just set him at ease.

He let out a slow groan as he stretched out the muscles in his body, a small cat-like smile on his face. After that he then proceeded to fix his hair, taking great care in making sure the cornflower tucked behind his ear didn't fall out. It didn't.

Gilbert sighed, taking some of the bags containing their leftovers (Okay, so it's more like Gilbert's leftovers, but everything looked so good!) from Matt as the two of them continued strolling down a familiar path.

They past the same trees from last week, they walked on the same sidewalk from last week, and they were heading for the same place as last week. But despite that, Gilbert couldn't help but stare at everything as if he was really seeing the world for the very first time. Red eyes caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.

He swallowed thickly.

There was Matt's mittened hand swinging back and forth, open and looking oh-so warm compared to his own cold digits. Hell, it _was_ kind of painful to even flex his fingers. _It's not like I'm hitting on him or anything…_ He tried to catch that hand in a most natural way possible.

It was very difficult.

"Are you trying to hold my hand?"

Gil's head snapped backwards, his look of focused replaced by shock when he realized that he was caught. _Crap._ He looked down at his empty hand. _Crap._ He looked up to see Matt's very amused expression and he totally didn't think about how else that face can express emotions.

No, he totally didn't.

"You're trying to hold my hand, aren't you?" He laughed, his hand acting on its own to gently wrap itself around Gilbert's fingers. He couldn't see the faint blush on Gilbert's face in the dark as he answered.

"Um, my answer is dependent to your answer."

"So you're the y to my x?" He asked coyly enough, batting his blonde eyelashes up at the other, but all Gilbert could think about was what he had said. He had heard it right… right? 'Cause something didn't seem to add up.

"I'm the why to your ex?"

"Dammit! It didn't make sense? God, my jokes suck."

Then it clicked and Gilbert's face fell. "That was a math joke wasn't it?"

There was a brief period of hesitation where he could see those eyes dart over to the left and then instantly flicker over to the right. Not once did they stop to stare at him as Matthew suddenly sprinted off into the night, the strings attached to his chullo hat flopping behind him. "Race you to the park!"

It took what felt like a minute before everything clicked for the older man. He gaped after the fleeing figure of the slimmer male, a finger pointing accusingly in his direction. "Y-You bastard! That's cheap! Cheap shot!" He called out as he ran after the man, their laughter soon filling the vast night sky.

The two of them rested underneath the same tree from before, sitting on the cold grass while munching away at cold leftovers. Most things were cold to the touch, but Gilbert felt positively _hot_ (not that he wasn't ever so mind blowingly sexy, wait, wrong word context).

Wide red eyes shifted over to his shoulder, the heat in his face growing even more when he noticed that Matthew's lips had curled up into a little smile. He looked back at the food held in his hands, took a munch of it, and nearly coughed it up when the blonde sleeping on his shoulder let out a little snore. Or maybe it was a snort.

It was definitely a snort.

He looked at him again, resisting the urge to rest his cheek on the man's head lest he end up sneaking a kiss or two from the blonde. Instead he kept his eye on the sky, silently watching as the stars seemed to dance about like a million fireflies.

"Ah…" One star had fallen, plummeting down to Earth at a red hot pace and soon more followed. He jabbed the blonde hard in the shoulder, Matthew making a really funny noise similar to a gargle as he woke up. "Matt, shooting stars."

A finger slipped up underneath his glasses, trying its best to wipe the sleep away from the bleary blue-tinged eyes without messing up his glasses. He turned his attention up the sky, just in time to see another star dash through the sky like an avid streaker running down the school's track. "Stars…" He mumbled to himself. Matt smiled when he realized what he had said. "Stars… did you make a wish yet?"

"Was waiting for you."

"Ah…" Both sat there, eyes moving in hopes of catching sight of another shooting star. None showed up and soon both were starting to wonder if they had missed their chances. Then, there was a flash at the corner of his eye and Matthew could see one, jabbed Gilbert in the shoulder, and pointed to it. "There, there! Make a wish!"

"Oh… _oh!_ There it is!"

Silence.

"… Did you make your wish yet?"

He sniffed; red eyes watching the shooting star carrying both their wishes disappear. "Yeah. Wha'dya wish for?"

"I'm not telling you."

"What? Why not?"

Matthew laughed at the whining tone in Gil's voice as he leaned back to lightly rest his back against the tree trunk. "Don't you know that wishes won't come true if you blab them out to the world?" He said, tilting his head just a tiny bit to look at Gilbert, a teasing smile on his lips.

The Prussian snorted, trying his best to slink down, but the coarse texture of the trunk made that very difficult. So he simply crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You can tell me, I'm so awesome that I'm an exception to that rule." And then he tilted his just like that to mirror Matthew, his red eyes clear despite the dark night. "So what'd you wish for?"

"I'm not telling you Gil."

"Come on."

"No."

"Please?"

"No Gil, stop begging."

"_Pleeeaaaase_!"

"No is no."

"The awesome me commands you to tell."

The look on Matthew's face fell, his face of puzzlement before a gentle grin broke out and he shook his head. "That was even worse than my math joke." He laughed at the pout on his friend's face. "Come on, I didn't upset you that much did I?"

"Yes, yes you did. Tell me what you wished for and we're even."

"Desperate much, Gil?"

"Come on! Just tell me, _pleeeaaase_!"

"No is still no!"

"I'll give you head! …Wait…" Silence fell over the duo as the words hung in the air, visible and alarming. Matthew looked away from the man sitting next to him, his hands coming up to cover his burning face as Gilbert gaped stupidly at his back. "Th-That wasn't supposed to come out."

"I noticed." Then a heartbeat later. "Why were you thinking of that, eh?"

"Uh, well… that's a really good question—"

"You know, I don't think I want to know."

"Really?" Relief settled like a fog in Gilbert's mind. At least he wasn't going to have to say what provoked that image of Matthew, legs spread wide apart, his back arching off the grass as he ghosts a finger up along his—Oh. Where was this train of thought going? A cunning little blackmail scheme? _Oh~ I likey…_ "Actually…" The devious glint was back in those ruby eyes. "You know what, I'll tell you—"

"W-What!

"—Or you know, you could just tell me your wish. That works too~"

"Y-You really want to know don't you?"

"Can't extinguish this burning… need." He faltered, the last word just tumbling out of his mouth without his consent. "Okay, bad choice of words after that 'head' thing, but really. Just tell me."

"It's embarrassing…"

"_Just tell me_!"

"You'll laugh…"

"You'll laugh…"

"Tell me!"

"I don't know…"

"TELL. NOW. Before I pass away!"

Matthew squirmed, felt like there was an assault on all sides and he was trapped. "I wished that you would… never forget me, you know?" He mumbled, a blush making its way onto his face as he squirmed even more under Gil's gaze. He scratched at the nape of his neck, the area quiet except for the chirping of crickets. "I told you it's embarrassing."

But Gil didn't answer. Nope, he was much too busy thinking over what he had just heard. He started rocking back and forth, his eyes looking faraway, deep into the night as he thought and thought. "You know…"

"Hmn?"

"That's a pretty selfish wish." He broke into a grin. "I mean, what about _you_ remembering _me_?" His voice grew louder, a somewhat frantic note settling into his words. "What happens if you get Alzheimer's, huh? What about you forgetting me? I'm awesome! _Awesome_! I should never be forgotten, man! Never you hear me, not in a long shot—"

"Okay, okay, okay! I got it Gil, I got it!" Matthew paused only to laugh, missed that fond look sent his way. "I won't forget you. God forbid I forget a man like you." He sighed, his curl swaying slightly from the action. "What did you wish for?"

"Hmn? Me? Oh…" He laughed nervously, scratching at the side of his nose again. "Yeah… I wished that you would lend me money so that I can pay for this month's rent… so how about fulfilling that wish…"

* * *

He knew that he had gotten himself into some pretty big shit when he woke up in the morning, legs splayed open in a wanton display. Through bleary eyes he could see the problem that had awoken him and with a curse he hobbled off into the bathroom for a cold shower.

Matthew knew he was in trouble… he just didn't know how much.

How deep he was in this dilemma.


End file.
